Louisiana Book Drive Details

“Our rooms are bare- not even everyone has a while/chalk board. We’re having to bring in items from home to improvise an environment as normal as possible. Students don’t have any reading materials for when they finish their work or when they come into class. We also do not have a library at this location, so reading books is considered a luxury as of now.”   ~Lindsey Kelley, 4th grade teacher at St. Amant Primary School in St. Amant, Louisiana Bear Pond Books, the Kellogg-Hubbard Library and several Central Vermont area schools are joining efforts to help rebuild the St. Amant Primary School library and classroom collections after the recent flooding due to heavy rainstorms around Baton Rouge. Dates: Monday, Sept 19 through Sunday, October 2nd Drop-Off sites: Bear Pond Books in Montpelier, Kellogg-Hubbard Library, East Montpelier Elementary School, River Rock School in Montpelier What is needed: NEW or LIKE-NEW books for grades Pre-K through 5, both fiction and most especially non-fiction. Hardcovers are preferred. Bear Pond Books wants to make it easy for you to donate a NEW book to this effort. We will be offering a 20% discount on all books donated to this cause during the book drive when you order on our website. Please note "book drive" in the comments when placing your order and we will adjust your total to reflect the discount. Educators who would like to get involved: If your school or classroom would like to collect books for this drive, please contact Jane at the email address below. To make more connections with Baton Rouge area schools, see author Kate Messner's blog for a longer list of schools in need, including their contact info. See author Tamara Ellis Smith's Another Kind Of Hurricane project to explore other ways to connect your classroom to those in need and to "to turn empathy into the power to help". If this window of time does not work for your school, Phoenix Books in Essex, Vt. will be hosting a book drive in November. Contact them for more info. For more information about this book drive, or a more detailed list of content areas that teachers at St. Amant are seeking replacement books for,  please contact Jane Knight at Bear Pond Books: jane@bearpondbooks.com

Oh, Fall! (sigh)

It's that time of year when we are busy fitting all the pieces into our fall schedule puzzle, and most of you are attempting to find a steady routine in your busy days. It is a time filled with anticipation, inspiration, exhaustion and inward focus. We in the Children's Room hope we can provide a piece of the inspiration puzzle for you with the announcement of our fall Educator's Events schedule

There may be late additions to this line-up, so check back often!

Here goes:

Friday, October 14, 9:30 - 11:30 am

Materials Review- Diversifying and Representing
(A panel of rock stars)

We welcome Kelsey Psaute and Hannah Peacock from the Burnham Memorial Library in Colchester to review books that represent diverse perspectives of ethnicity, race, gender and sexual orientation. During the second hour authors Kekla Magoon and Will Alexander will speak to their experiences in schools and the publishing world, and will address the ongoing call to provide more windows for our predominantly white communities in Vermont.

Will Alexander's Nomad,  new in paperback, is the sequel to Ambassador, a science fiction adventure
for middle graders

Kekla Magoon's newest installment in the Dorothy Canfield Fisher nominated series Robyn Hoodlum
will be published in October.

 

Friday, November 4, 9:30 - 11:30 am

Words Come Alive!

Dive into Red Clover books with activities from the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts' signature Words Come Alive! program.  Jump into the shoes of characters, travel to exciting settings and connect literacy learning to kinesthetic creativity. Led by Flynn Center artist teacher Karen Sharpwolf. This is a special opportunity to learn more about the multi-disciplinary program that the Flynn Center offers to Vermont students and educators.

We are also in the planning stages to host a book drive for an Elementary school in St. Amant, Louisiana.Bear Pond Books, Kellogg-Hubbard Library and Central Vermont area schools will be accepting book donations of NEW or LIKE NEW books to help them rebuild their collections.
From Monday, September 19th through Sunday October 2nd, we will be taking donations of NEW and LIKE-NEW books for grades Pre-K through 5. Bear Pond will pick-up all donations and take care of getting the books to Louisiana. I will be sending additional information in the next week. If you are interested in joining this effort email jane@bearpondbooks.com.